Zambia in Talks With Indonesian Company Over USD$90 million Locomotive Supply Deal

Indonesia`s state-owned train manufacturer PT Industri Kereta Api (INKA) has won a deal worth USD$90 million to supply locomotives to Zambia, marking its first venture into the largely untapped African market.

INKA is looking at the possibility of exporting to other African countries, including Nigeria, Sudan, Mozambique and Egypt in the future. It already sells to other South-East Asian countries such as Bangladesh, the Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand and Singapore.

"We first focused on the Southeast Asian market, and then on the South Asian markets. Now we begin eyeing the African market," PT Inka Acting President M Nur Sodiq said on Monday.

PT Inka Executive Vice President Bambang Kushendarto said the company is still negotiating parts of the deal with Zambia on the project.

"The deal is still in the process of negotiation. This is our first project with an African country to procure 30 electric diesel locomotives," he said.

The Zambian deal for 30 electro-diesel locomotives will be funded by Swedish soft loans.

The project serves as tripartite cooperation among Indonesia, Zambia and Sweden. Under the cooperation, Sweden has agreed to extend soft loans to Zambia to build infrastructures and facilities, while PT Inka acted as a rolling stock company.

And delivery of the locomotives will be in 22 months, while the train signals and other facilities within four years.

PT Inka executive vice president Bambang Kushendarto said the company is still negotiating with Zambia on the project.

The company’s deal with Zambia comes after that the Indonesian President Joko Widodo called on Indonesian producers to explore new markets to reduce their dependence on traditional markets such as Asia and Europe.

Partners guide

Disclaimer: pgzambia provides original and aggregated content on issues affecting the Zambian economy. Whilst efforts have been made to source aggregated content from reliable and trustworthy publishers, no guarantee can be made on the accuracy contained within content aggregated from sources external to the Partners Group.